BOX SCORE

FERRUM, Va.. -- Ferrum College fell 79-75 in overtime tonight at home to Methodist University in the quarterfinals of the 2009 USA South Men's Basketball Tournament.

Tied 23-23 at halftime, Methodist opened a 10-point at 51-41 with 7:18 left to play.  The Panthers battled back and got to within 62-58 with 1:10 left.  Justin Henderson then made a three-point basket with :23 showing, then sent the game into OT with a running layup.

Henderson's layup with 1.9 second left in regulation looked as though Marcus Connor had blocked it, but was called good on a goal-tending call.

In overtime, the Monarchs jumped out to a 69-62 lead on jumpers by Connor and Joshua Crumpler, and a pair of Crumpler free throws.  Henderson scored nine of his 22 points in overtime.

Methodist (10-16) was led by Mark Jernigan's 25 points and Tyler Sigman's 18.  Crumpler, Connor and A.B. Lehman had 10 points each.  Connor nearly had a triple double, snaring 10 rebounds and blocking seven shots.

Ferrum (14-12) got 14 points from Christian Waters, 13 from Keith Crump and 10 from Derek Mitchell. Mitchell's 14 rebounds tonight allowed him to eclipse a pair of 23-year school records for single season rebounds (323) and single season rebounding average (14.2).  The previous record holder was Donnell Howard from 1986, who had 308 rebounds and a 13.9 rpg average.  Mitchell has also eclipsed the career rebounding record set in 2004 by Kevin Aigbe (7.8 average).  Mitchell now has 602 rebounds in 52 games, good for an 11.6 career average.

Methodist advances to the semifinals to be held Friday in Newport News.  The semifinals and championship are being held once again at Christopher Newport University.

2009 USA South Basketball Tournament Site